Innovation and R&D have always been the essential foundations of a strong, sustainable defence industry. Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper, Defence Industry Policy Statement (DIPS) and Defence Integrated Investment Program (DIIP) acknowledge the importance of successful Defence R&D and innovation to the nation’s defence industry and thus to Australian defence policy. The 2020 Defence Force Structure Plan reinforced these foundations.
EX2 was set up by Dr Gregor Ferguson, a defence industry and innovation analyst and consultant, to make a useful contribution in Australia’s new and welcoming defence business environment.
EX2 helps innovators in Defence, the research sector and industry, and especially SMEs, by providing news and insight about innovation in Defence and adjacent sectors such as space, aerospace and resources.
Gregor Ferguson writes, teaches, advises and runs a national program designed to encourage and reward innovators in the defence, aerospace and maritime domains in both industry and the research and academic communities.
View his bio here (PDF opens in new window).
Dr Gregor Ferguson, Ph.D, BA (Hons), MRAeS
Construction has begun on Boeing’s new production facility in Toowoomba, Queensland, to support the manufacture of Australia’s first military combat aircraft designed and developed in over 50 years – the MQ-28 Ghost Bat. The 9,000m2 facility at the Wellcamp Aerospace…
Melbourne-based AIM Defence has won a $4.9 million contract from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to build a world-first, deployable Directed Energy (DE) System, Fractal:2, for ongoing counter-drone testing and evaluation. AIM Defence expects Fractl:2 to be in the hands…
The Australian government has announced that Australia’s fleet of SSN‑AUKUS submarines will be built at Osborne, South Australia, by a joint venture between government-owned ASC Pty Limited and BAE Systems Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and UK Defence Secretary…
The Adelaide-based ELO2 Consortium has unveiled its pioneering lunar rover prototype, demonstrating Australia’s potential to support a future NASA Artemis mission to the Moon. The working rover is designed to collect and transport lunar regolith (Moon soil) to a NASA-run…
The German Army, the Bundeswehr, has ordered up to 123 Australian-made Boxer Heavy Weapon Carrier vehicles from the Rheinmetall plant at its Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Redbank, Queensland. The order is worth more than $1 billion. The company…
Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with European Space Agency to deliver an end to end solution for the LEO-PNT (Low Earth Orbit Positioning Navigation and Timing) orbit demonstrator. This contract includes the space (5 satellites to be launched),…
The Australian Space Agency, under its Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants scheme, has funded the development of an Australian aerospace grade Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver for use in various aerospace applications such as rockets, satellites,…
The Defence Trade Controls (DTC) Amendment Bill 2023 before Parliament will streamline trade with the United Kingdom and United States and is critical to Australia’s ability to more closely integrate its defence industrial base with partners, Defence’s Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry,…
The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and Microsoft will strengthen Australia’s cyber defences by connecting ASD’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing (CTIS) platform with Microsoft’s Sentinel platform, creating a global cyber threat intelligence system. This connection allows Microsoft’s Australian customers who also…
Sydney-based DroneShield has received a repeat order worth $4.3 million from an undisclosed US government customer for a number of its handheld C-UAS systems. The delivery is expected to be completed within just over a fortnight, using available stock on…
